Crude prices inched higher in early action on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to fresh weekly data on U.S. commercial crude inventories to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer and how fast output levels will continue to rise.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report for the week ended June 1 at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT), amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of 1.8 million barrels.
Analysts also forecast a gain of 587,000 barrels for gasoline stockpiles, while distillate inventories are expected to rise by 784,000 barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by 2 million barrels last week.
The API data also showed a rise of nearly 3.8 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles, while inventories of distillates declined by 871,000 barrels.
There are often sharp divergences between the API estimates and the official figures from EIA.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 17 cents, or around 0.3%, at $65.69 a barrel at 3:55AM ET (0755GMT). It touched a near two-month low of $64.22 on Tuesday, before turning higher to settle up 77 cents.
Elsewhere, Brent crude futures were up 53 cents, or 0.7%, at $75.91 a barrel. The contract went as low as $73.81, the weakest since May 8, the previous day after a report that the U.S. government had asked Saudi Arabia and other major exporters to increase oil output.
Prices in recent sessions have declined on concerns that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members led by Russia would decide to lift output by up to 1 million barrels a day as early as this month in reaction to lost supplies out of Venezuela and Iran.
OPEC is scheduled to hold its next meeting in Vienna on June 22.
Meanwhile, Brent’s premium over WTI futures remained near three-year highs above $10 a barrel. The premium has doubled in less than a month, as a lack of pipeline capacity in the United States has trapped a lot of output inland.
